At thirteen, Lin Zhaodi was taken from Nanping Mountain for a hundred taels of silver.
Xie Yanbai gave her the name Zhaohe, sent her to school, and bought her new clothes. She secretly cherished a kind word he had casually said for many days.
Later, she left the marquis's residence, rented a room, found work, and carefully recorded every coin she owed the Xie family. But he appeared before her again and asked how she planned to repay all that kindness.
Zhaohe had wondered if, without meeting him, she might have married in the mountains long ago. But now that she had come out into the world, she wanted to see other places, meet other people, and live a life where she could make her own choices.
Yet the man who had brought her out of the mountains still refused to let her go.
